Training Climbs

We now have two training climbs scheduled.

Sure, for Colin there really aren't any training climbs as he is always climbing, but these are climbing climbs for me, anyway.

In May I am going with some friends to climb Mount St Helens, and in early June, a bunch of us plan to climb Mount Rainier. Both Colin and Brian plan on going on the latter climb, which should be good for all of us individually, and as a team.

Tomorrow night we have a meeting of those interested in doing the June climb of Rainier.

Every step along the way to Denali becomes more tangible!

Making Progress

Although it has been a few months since I last wrote, we are still bound and determined to go to Denali!

In fact, we have now tentatively settled on mid-June 2011, and it looks like we will employ the guide services of Phil Ershler. I met with his business partners, Eric Simmonson and George Dunn, a couple of weeks ago and they "penciled" us into their schedule. Exciting!

Colin and I added an exercise routine over the last couple of weeks. Colin took one of my old MSR ice axes and suspended it horizontally from the ceiling of our garage and we use this to do pull-ups and leg lifts. We also have a universal gym in the garage and have been using that as well. We can certainly feel the difference, and can even see some difference as well.

Colin has been devoting considerable time and dollars both researching and acquiring gear. Yes, he had a lot already, but the gear needed for this 20,000 foot peak is often quite different than what we have been using for the Cascade peaks less than half that high.

The Impact of Goals and Reality

The idea of climbing Denali set off a chain reaction. Actually deciding I was going to go of course resulted in great excitement. It also changed entirely the way I looked at exercise, fitness, weight, all of those topics that so often make people grumble. Training became a much higher priority and a lot more fun.

Recently I was involved in a group discussion about how guide services screen their prospective clients. There was a two-party conversation going on near me between someone with guide service experience and someone who soon plans to use a guide service. I didn't hear the core of the conversation, but the final words from the guide were, "We would screen you out."

The man he was talking to was maybe 10 to 15 years younger than me and very fit; he has run several marathons, for instance. It took a moment for it to sink in, but soon I recognized that I too could be screened off a climb. Not only will I be 57 when we land on Denali, but I have a handlful of borderline ailments for which I take a handful of pills each day. Will I too go through all of this planning, preparation and excited anticipation only to be screened out months from now?

Just as setting the goal and making the decision changed my outlook on exercise and everything else that is good and healthful -- and necessary if I am to train properly for the climb -- even the remote possibility of being screened out sapped my enthusiasm. The change was immediate. Exercise became a lower priority. Excuses came easier.

All this was about a week ago. I am coming to terms with two things. One is that I need to deal with the reality that I have not been screened out. I need to replace fear with fact and find out what the medical qualifications are for the climb (I am certain about my climbing qualifications). The second is that climbing is, first and foremost, a mind game. Whether you think you can or think you cannot, you are right. I have failed to summit on many a climb, and the most common reason is falling prey to one mind game or another. And the mind game starts long before we even set foot on the mountain.

Reactions

It is interesting to note how people react when they hear the news that we are climbing Denali. The spectrum is broad.

Some more-or-less say, "Cool," then proceed to talk about the weather or something else relatively mundane, as if they didn't hear me or care or understand -- I think more the latter. Others look at me as if I were crazy, suicidal. "That's a really big deal," is a common response.

There are others that are supportive and excited. Some want to be involved one way or another. A couple have said they'd like to go along. A few have offered up support with equipment. Some would love to have a similar goal but realize it is unrealistic for one or more reasons.

My reactions to their reactions are not full spectrum. For those that are unexcited or that find me crazy, I understand. Mountain climbing is often not understood by non-climbers. I am not doing this for their support or adulation, thus the lack of either is a non-issue. For those that are supportive and excited, I am appreciative. Lofty goals can be contagious, and that is great fun!

Coincidence?

Is it a coincidence that if you type Denali into a Word document it wants to correct the spelling to Denial?

Been there, haven't done that

No, I haven't climbed Denali before...... yet. But I have been in the neighborhood, twice before.

The first time was shortly after my 19th birthday in 1973. In January. I spent two weeks living in the bush in a log cabin in the dead of winter a few miles from Talkeetna. Talkeetna is to Denali what Los Angeles is to Hollywood. It is your last destination before the real attraction. It is a small town with little more than a general store, a saloon, a post office and an airstrip. It is from that airstrip that the bush planes take off to ferry climbers to Denali. The town slogan is, "Talkeetna: A small drinking town with a climbing problem."

In the dead of winter we averaged 40 below zero F. on that trip.

The second time was in 2000 on an adventure travel trip with my family. We got close to Denali, but never actually saw it.

It isn't much to claim, but I have experienced that latitude and the temperature. Altitude will be next.

It doesn’t matter whether we decide we can or we decide we can’t, we are right

Why do most people not climb mountains?

For most it is because they have decided that they don’t want to – or can’t. Whether they actual can or actually can’t is another matter, but they can’t because they have decided they can’t.

For others they may try and stop when they discover it is uncomfortable, or they get tired. They started off wanting to, and then decided they didn’t want to.

Those that do climb mountains decide they want to. They decide they can. They decide that it doesn’t matter that it is uncomfortable or that they are tired. Maybe even that makes climbing a mountain better.

Life is the same way. There are many things in life people decide to not participate in. There are many people that decide they can’t do ‘it’. Again, whether they actually can or not is dwarfed by their decision that they can’t. Some of the most worthwhile things in life are tried by a few, and most of those decide they can’t once they start. They are tired or it is uncomfortable.

Be it mountains or other things in life, it doesn’t matter whether we decide we can or we decide we can’t, we are right. If we only choose life options that are comfortable, where we never tire, we will experience little in life. We will die comfortable, we will die rested, we will die without experiencing life.

To live is to do what others say cannot be done. To live is to tackle that which is uncomfortable. To live is to try so hard that we become tired, but when we accomplish our goals we feel great.